‘No retaliation’ urged after attacks

There must be no retaliation for a series of attacks on Protestant churches and halls in Londonderry, the city’s deputy mayor has insisted.
The Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall in Londonderry has been attacked for the third night running.  Pictured at the hall Mark Durkan MP and Philip Gillen (Apprentice Boy)The Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall in Londonderry has been attacked for the third night running.  Pictured at the hall Mark Durkan MP and Philip Gillen (Apprentice Boy)
The Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall in Londonderry has been attacked for the third night running. Pictured at the hall Mark Durkan MP and Philip Gillen (Apprentice Boy)

Councillor Gary Middleton made his plea after three separate incidents at the Apprentice Boys’ (ABOD) Memorial Hall on consecutive nights.

In the latest attack, paint was thrown over stonework and new doors fitted ahead of the UK City of Culture celebrations.

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Repairs to the property are expected to run into thousands of pounds.

The biggest event in the ABOD calendar will take place in the city on August 10 with the annual celebration of the Relief of Londonderry following the siege of 1688-1689.

Mr Middleton said: “It’s not only the Apprentice Boys hall that was attacked. First Derry Presbyterian Church was also attacked as was, last week, St Augustine’s Church of Ireland – all of which are on the [city] walls.

“While I accept it is a minority that are doing this, unfortunately it’s giving Protestants the wrong perception.

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“The people living in the west bank of the city do feel genuinely threatened. If you speak to the people in and around the Fountain they will tell you that.”

Mr Middleton said he welcomed the cross-community condemnation as “a step forward” and added: “I would be careful not to tar everyone with the same brush as we have been through enough in this city to know that is not the case.”

The governor of the ABOD, Jim Brownlee, said the sectarian vandals have no clue about history or culture.

He said: “These people have no love for this city whatsoever. They certainly have no love for the Apprentice Boys’ Memorial Hall.

“Hopefully these people can be brought to justice.”

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Mr Brownlee added: “They are of a sectarian mindset whereby they feel it is right and proper to paint-bomb what they see as a hall that is nothing to do with what they believe in, but that is purely destructive, it is sectarian, it is hate-filled.”

Nationalist and republican representatives in the city have also spoken out. Foyle MP Mark Durkan described the attacks as “despicable acts of wanton vandalism”.

He said: “Attacks like these are attacks on the entire community. It is not enough just to register our disgust and condemnation.”

Sinn Fein councillor Colly Kelly said: “We cannot allow these sorts of senseless actions to occur in this day and age nor be used to heighten tensions in and around the greater Bishop Street/Fountain area.”